The Harvest
by darkflame470
Summary: A rabbit attends her first harvest festival for the Knights of Grey


The early-morning fog was as thick as pea soup as the sun rose over a castle that was perched on top of a very steep hill. Currently making the journey upwards was an army of knights, all clad in suits of armor, each carrying a shield and some form of weapon.

This sizable army was led forward by a pair of rabbits. The two rabbits, Carol and LuAnn Hopps, carried a sword and mace respectively. The mission for them was clear: take the castle in the name of their king.

To prepare for this mission, they had undertaken five years each of intensive training and another five years of various, smaller, conquests. All of it, from the time they left the Grey Manor to the different lands they had conquered, led to this very castle that laid before their eyes.

As the troops advanced, they heard a horn sound, signaling that they had been spotted. The fog began to clear as the invading army pulled out their weapons and prepared for the defending army that would surely come.

And come it did. The drawbridge lowered, the castle doors flung open, and the first wave of enemy knights poured out of the opening.

The invading army charged head on. Both armies screamed as they raced towards each other, eager to have the knight who drew first blood.

* * *

*Cock-a-doodle-doo*

A rooster crowing signaled the start of another day for nine-year-old Carol Hopps. As the daughter of lowly serfs snapped her eyes open and rose from her hay bed, her much older sister, LuAnn, appeared at her doorway.

"You're awake," the older rabbit stated.

"Morning to you too sister," Carol yawned.

"Ready for your first harvest?"

"Uh huh, I can't wait!" her younger sister replied enthusiastically. In truth, she had been looking forward to meeting the Grey Knights.

"I brought you breakfast." The eighteen-year-old brown rabbit said, shaking the tray for emphasis. "Remember to say grace before you eat."

Carol nodded and got to her knees. LuAnn did the same, and the two sisters put their hand paws together.

"Remember, work as hard as you can. OK?" The older sister asked. The younger rabbit responded with a nod, and they recited their grace.

"Bless, O Father, Thy gifts to our use and us to thy service; for Christ's sake. Amen." The sisters prayed.

After grace, they ate the grass laid before them without a further word. The rabbit duo then got up, brushed themselves off, and prepared for a grueling day of farm work.

* * *

They walked into the outside world to find that the harvest day had already begun.

They found a section of cabbage was not being tended to and ran over to help.

They had to work quickly for the Knights that served under Tyson Grey would be arriving shortly to collect their crops before the day was done. They wasted no time in digging up the heads of ripe cabbage.

Remembering what her sister and Andrew taught her, she took a knife, pulled up a head of cabbage, cut it from the root, pulled the outermost leaves, and placed each head on the cart that had pulled up behind her.

"Hi, Carol."

She turned around to find a tall, stocky ox.

"Hey, Andrew." The rabbit smiled, then turned back around and returned to her work.

"Remember to work really hard today. It's critical ya know."

"I know, I know," she replied.

The young rabbit put her knife away when the cabbages were all hauled away. She then and bounced over to the still-maturing tomatoes to find her sister, LuAnn, already plucking weeds. She bent her knees and helped.

"Hey, sis?" Carol said. "Have you ever wondered about what the world is like outside these walls?"

"No."

"Come on, really?"

"Nope. The only world you need to know is inside these walls here."

"But don't you get curious sometimes about what other lands there are out there, other castles, other villages maybe?"

"No," she repeated, "the only world you need to know is inside these walls. Let's talk later. We have to finish pulling these weeds."

"Right."

It took another hour before they were finished. Idle chatter among the two bunnies helped the time go by. The group was finally done, and good timing, as Carol saw a group of knights approaching from the horizon, their armor glistening in the sun.

* * *

The oxen had pulled carts containing various crops from cabbages to tomatoes towards the center of the village where every serf had gathered. After the Knights picked the best crops for their Lord and themselves, they would leave the servants with the rest. The portion left for them was enough to live on until the next harvest.

Carol looked around the crowd and noticed that some of the older mammals had become nervous. Some were twirling their fingers while others were slightly shaking, but she had no reason to be nervous. She turned around to find, to her surprise, her sister was trembling along with everybody else.

"Sis," the younger one asked, "there's no need to worry. You worked harder than everyone else today."

"Yeah, I did," LuAnn replied, still shaking "I did." Her ears drooped down.

Carol began to notice that wolf knights were gathering the eldest of rabbits. This was what the penalty was for not working hard enough. She was so distracted by the sight that she almost didn't notice that her sister was also being taken away.

"Wait, what's going on?" she asked in a near panic.

"She's coming with us," The wolf knight replied.

"But why? She worked harder than anybody here," she said, to no response from the wolf.

"Wait," Carol said, about to run to her sister who was going willingly with the knight. She found herself held back by a familiar ox's arm.

"Let me go. That's my sister. Andrew, what are they doing?" she asked in a rising panic.

"They're doing their job."

"But my sister, she worked harder than everybody else," she said, struggling to fight back tears. "I saw her; I need to tell them."

"They know," Andrew said solemnly. "But they also know that she could not have children."

"Why couldn't she have children?"

"They just know, they know."

Carol watched as her sister walked out of sight without looking back. Andrew decided to speak further. "God will take good care of her, don't worry."

"Will I get to see her again?"

"Eventually, if you're a good bunny. Keep working hard and know that you will join her one day."

She could not hold back anymore and broke down crying. Andrew moved to put a hoof on her shoulder for support, but he stopped when a paw fell on his.

"It's your time to go, you've been selected to pull the cart," the tiger knight behind him stated. Andrew knew what this meant.

"This rabbit just lost her sister. Please, The ox pleaded. "I'm all she has."

"You've grown too old; you know what that means," the feline knight flatly stated.

"I know, but can I have one more harvest cycle to be with her?"

"No, it's your time. You've been selected to pull the cart."

Andrew nodded.

"I've got to go now," he said to the still-bawling rabbit. "It's time for me to meet God."

Her ears perked. "No, you can't leave me," she pleaded.

"I have to. He's calling for me. We'll meet again someday, but you have to be a good bunny for Lord Grey and God. Promise me that."

She struggled to speak as more tears left her eyes, so she only nodded.

Andrew, along with a few other oxen, departed with the now monstrous knights. Each wolf had a convoy of rabbits in tow, while the oxen were hauling away the noble's share of the harvest. Every step that Andrew took felt as if he was walking over her heart.

The Grey Knights marched towards the castle gate. Carol stopped crying as she was carried away by another rabbit. She vowed to still work the hardest of them all and to have as many children as possible when possible.

* * *

Later that night, in the central manor, Lady Grey had prepared a dish of stew. The stew consisted of rabbit meat, carrots, onions, tomatoes, and potatoes. This was everything an omnivore such as the red fox needs.

She brought the pot to the table and prepared four bowls of the stew. After she had done so, she took her seat next to her husband.

"Let's say our grace," lord Grey spoke. The four foxes held each other's paws and prayed.

"Bless, O Father, Thy gifts to our use and us to thy service; for Christ's sake. Amen," the family said in unison.

As they ate the stew, Lord Grey was the first to speak.

"What a lovely meal you've prepared my dear."

"Thank you, darling. I thought about saving some for his majesty when he comes for a visit."

"You should; I'm sure that he would love it, along with the ox meat."

No further words were spoken as the noble fox family enjoyed the taste of young rabbit stew.


End file.
